The Envy of Your Friends

Nothing screams self-indulgence like a home screening room.

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NOT ONLY ARE THE PRICES of large-screen televisions dropping rapidly, the costs of home video projectors are also falling, while quality is rising. I tested four projectors to see if any of them are worthy of displaying one of my films--the very underrated, amusing Wild Wild West.

The relatively inexpensive (2) Optoma HD72 digital cinema projector ($2,000; www.optoma.com) isn't really worthy of a dedicated screening room. The resolution and sharpness are okay, but the blacks are a bit muddy. However, the Optoma is definitely small and light enough to take to your weekend home, and with a few speakers and a large sheet or the white side of your Hamptons rental, you could set up a very cool outdoor theater.

In a very different league are the (1) Sharp XV-Z3000 ($3,500; sharpusa.com) and the (3) Epson PowerLite Pro Cinema 800 ($4,500; epson.com). These are almost worthy of a dedicated screening room, but I still have some issues. The Sharp is a very contrasty projector with excellent color saturation; it produced the best blacks in my test. It does have one problem, though: The picture feels slightly overprocessed. The edges of images seem too sharp, in an artificial way. The Epson, on the other hand, has the most cinematic image of the two--bright, clean, and not overprocessed. The downside is that I don't think its black level is as good as the Sharp's.

Here's my philosophy on this home-projector stuff: If you're using your den for your theater and it's got windows and doors opening to other rooms, don't bother; you won't be happy. Unfortunately, you really need a dedicated dark room to use almost any video projector if you're serious about image quality. Instead, get the biggest flat-panel television you can afford and hope the New York Giants do well this fall. (Is it me, or does Tom Coughlin look like he's always on the verge of crying?)

On the other hand, there is absolutely nothing as luxurious or that will make your neighbors more envious (with the possible exception of a urinal or a toilet that washes and dries your ass) than a dedicated screening room. I'm talking about a room that has no windows, built-in surround sound, and a permanent screen with your main speakers installed behind it.

So, what projector should go into your perfectly designed, totally black screening room? Well, you've easily spent a hundred grand on the room, so you want a great projector. And that's where the (4) Sony VW100 ($10,000; sonystyle.com) comes in. This projector is almost as good as the $30,000 Sony Qualia 004 I have in my screening room in East Hampton, New York. It uses three chips, projects at 1080p, and produces an image that is better than what's in 95 percent of the movie theaters across America. The VW100 claims to have an extraordinary 15,000-to-1 contrast ratio, which means the ratio of white to black is practically film quality. If you can afford it, spend the money. It will be the best investment you'll ever make for your manly lifestyle. Wild Wild West will never look better.

Barry Sonnenfeld is the director of The Addams Family, Get Shorty, Men in Black, and RV.